PEARL JAM, BEYONCÉ, ED SHEERAN and COLDPLAY to headline 2015 GLOBAL CITIZEN FESTIVAL
Free Ticketed Event on the Great Lawn in Central Park on September 26, 2015
msnbc to Simulcast Concert Live on TV and msnbc.com; YouTube to Carry the Livestream; NBC to Broadcast One-Hour Special
Global Citizens to Call for Support on new Global Goals to Fight Inequality, Protect our Planet and End Extreme Poverty by 2030
Gucci and CHIME FOR CHANGE join as Presenting Partner and Announce Long-Term Partnership with Global Citizen to Drive Equality of Girls and Women
Richard Curtis and Radio Everyone to Partner with Global Citizen to Make New Global Goals Famous
New York, NY, July 9, 2015 – Pearl Jam, Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran and Coldplaywill headline the 2015 Global Citizen Festival, a free-ticketed event on the Great Lawn in Central Park in New York City on Saturday, September 26, 2015. The Festival is timed to coincide with the launch of the United Nations’ new Global Goals designed to fight inequality, protect our planet and end extreme poverty by 2030. The Global Citizen Festival will channel the power of hundreds of thousands of global citizens lending their voices to achieve policy and financial commitments that will shape the success of these Goals.
msnbc will serve as a media partner of the Global Citizen Festival for the second year in a row. The network will air a live simulcast of the full concert on msnbc and msnbc.com. The Festival will be produced by Emmy Award-winning producer, Ken Ehrlich (Grammy Awards). Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Richard Curtis (Bridget Jones’s Diary, Love Actually) will produce a one-hour special of the event to air on NBC on Sunday, September 27 and BBC One in the UK on Monday, September 28. BBC Worldwide will serve as the global distributor for the TV special.
YouTube is a worldwide digital streaming partner for the Festival and will feature a special livestream of the full concert at YouTube.com/GlobalCitizen, presented by T-Mobile. iHeartRadio will digitally stream the audio of the Festival on iHeartRadio.com and in the app. Radio Everyone, the global pop up radio station, as part of Global Goals campaign will then air highlights of the concert around the globe.
Starting today, free tickets to the Festival are available to global citizens who visitglobalcitizenfestival.com, and take “action” to earn their admission. All fans will participate in an Action Journey by making phone calls, volunteering and attending events, taking part in creating a just, equitable and healthy world. Once they complete an Action Journey, fans can enter to win free tickets. Ticket draws will occur throughout the summer and fans will be notified via Global Citizen when they have been selected. A limited number of VIP tickets will also be available for purchase through Ticketmaster starting on Friday, July 10 at 10 a.m. Citi is proud partner of the Global Citizen Festival and Citi credit card members will have exclusive access to VIP offers at the early bird pricing through Thursday, July 16.
Building on the extraordinary momentum over the past 15 years, the Global Goals carry the promise of equal rights and opportunity for women and men: the promise to live a healthy and dignified life, the promise for every child to survive and thrive.
CHIME FOR CHANGE, the successful campaign founded by Gucci and led by co-founders Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Salma Hayek Pinault, will join Global Citizen in a groundbreaking partnership to raise global visibility for girls’ and women’s equality within GlobalCitizen.org. Global Citizen and CHIME FOR CHANGE have come together to build a community of people who want to learn about and take action on the biggest challenges faced by girls and women, because gender equality is fundamental to the long-term objective of ending extreme poverty by 2030. Together, CHIME FOR CHANGE and Global Citizen will unite to strengthen the voices speaking out for girls and women around the world.
“Through our CHIME FOR CHANGE campaign, over the last three years we have been able to convene and activate a powerful coalition of those who share our belief that girls and women globally should have an equal opportunity for education, health and justice,” said Gucci President Marco Bizzarri. “This new partnership with Global Citizen will increase the momentum and impact of our campaign by harnessing the scale and global platform of Global Citizen to engage millions – especially young people – by educating them and encouraging meaningful action in support of girls and women.”
“The 2015 Global Citizen Festival will serve as a critical moment to shed light on the world’s agenda for the next 15 years,” said Hugh Evans, CEO of The Global Poverty Project. “We are now at a moment where we can eliminate extreme poverty by 2030, but this cannot be achieved by the words of politicians alone. The Global Citizen Festival serves to channel the unwavering call for action from global citizens who want to see equality, change and justice reach those who need it most.”
Said Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam, “We hope Pearl Jam fans will sign up to become Global Citizens — not just to earn tickets to the show — but to be part of a movement that encourages leaders of nations with the greatest wealth to apply aid, trade and governance policies in support of nations and communities in the greatest need. People living on less than $1.50-a-day deserve the opportunity to lift themselves up out of extreme poverty.”
“I am honored to be a part of the Global Citizen Festival,” said Beyoncé. “It has always stood for improving the lives of people everywhere, but this year is especially rewarding as we all join focuses and utilize our talents for one goal: to end extreme poverty globally.”
Ed Sheeran said, “It’s at once a great honor and very humbling to participate in the Global Citizen Festival. I look forward to sharing the stage with such an amazing lineup of artists in an effort to raise awareness, educate others, and work toward the goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030. I truly believe it’s possible if we all work together.”
Said Chris Martin of Coldplay, “We are so proud to be playing this year’s Global Citizen Festival. We love the Global Citizen movement and we love opening for Beyoncé so this ticks both boxes.” Chris Martin of Coldplay serves as a curator of the Global Citizen Festival.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio stated, “The City of New York is proud to once again welcome the Global Citizen Festival back to Central Park. Our city has a rich history of hosting movements to call for change and equality both here in our nation and across the world—and this event provides another important opportunity for New Yorkers to come together to help eradicate extreme poverty. I want to thank the Global Citizen Festival event organizers, participants, and attendees for joining together in this critical mission and helping bring this effort to the forefront.”
Richard Curtis, who serves as the creative director for the 2015 Global Citizen Festival, said, “I am delighted to be working with Global Citizen and the UN on this amazing festival. We want to give the Global Goals for Sustainable Development the noisiest launch in history in the belief that the more famous they are, the more effective they will be. My particular job is to turn the Festival into an hour-long TV program – all part of a huge campaign to get the word of the Goals out through TV, cinema, schools, on-line and through Radio Everyone, a unique global network of broadcasters and talent. We hope to leave no stone unturned to support the Goals that could spell the end of extreme poverty and the threat of climate change.”
One of the first “actions” fans will be asked to complete is to call the U.S. State Department and tell them to commit 50% of the U.S. foreign aid budget to the world’s poorest countries at the conference. By making this call, we will show the U.S. Administration that the world is watching and demand concrete solutions at Addis Ababa that will lead to the end of extreme poverty by 2030. This is the moment when world leaders will decide on how to fund the roadmap for ending extreme poverty and propel the next generation into a sustainable future. Without aggressive commitments, the new Global Goals risk being a mere wish list.
Over the last four years, global citizens have taken nearly 3 million actions in the fight against extreme poverty. These actions have resulted in 87 commitments and policy announcements, including cash commitments valued at U.S. $18.3 billion.
Previous headliners of the Global Citizen Festival include: in 2014, JAY Z (with special guest Beyoncé), No Doubt, fun., Carrie Underwood, The Roots, Tiësto; in 2013, Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Alicia Keys, Kings of Leon; in 2012, Neil Young with Crazy Horse, Foo Fighters, The Black Keys, John Legend, and Band of Horses. In April 2015, Global Citizen hosted ‘Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day’ in partnership with Earth Day Network, which brought No Doubt, Usher, Mary J. Blige, Fall Out Boy and more to the National Mall in Washington D.C.
Presenting partner Gucci and the CHIME FOR CHANGE campaign join proud core partners of the 2015 Global Citizen Festival: Citi, Unilever, YouTube, Google, iHeartRadio, Clear Channel Outdoor, msnbc, New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, H&M, and T- Mobile. Supporting partners are BBC Worldwide, Universal Music Group Distribution, Pratt Foundation, Waislitz Foundation, Milk Studios, and Riot House.
“The Global Citizen Festival has made tremendous impact in the fight to end extreme poverty and climate change by bringing together advocates and music fans,” said Jennifer Breithaupt, Global Head of Entertainment Marketing at Citi. “We are honored to join forces once again to support this critical cause and engage our customers, and know that it will be a memorable day of music in Central Park.”
Said Daniel Kulle, Country Manager of H&M U.S., “H&M is thrilled to renew our commitment to ending global poverty through our partnership with the Global Citizen Festival. This summer we encourage customers to close the loop in fashion – by dropping off gently used clothes to be recycled at any H&M. Through this easy action, customers can gain points to win Festival tickets and join H&M in creating a better fashion future.”
Said Ryan Gall, Co-Founder of Global Citizen and Riot House, “Our collective voice is more powerful now than it’s ever been in terms of our ability to influence change. It’s been incredible to see how a bunch of concerned global citizens can actually move the needle on these really important issues.”
People everywhere are invited to sign-up, take actions, and enter the prize draws for free tickets. In total, 48,000 free tickets to the Festival will be given out to Global Citizens. For more information about the artists, schedules, and event, please visit www.globalcitizenfestival.com and follow @GlblCtzn Twitter,Facebook and Instagram using #GlobalCitizen.
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ABOUT GLOBAL CITIZEN
First launched in 2012 with the Global Citizen Festival in New York’s Central Park, Global Citizen is an innovative online platform co-founded by The Global Poverty Project, Ryan Gall and The Riot House, to engage people in the movement to end extreme poverty by 2030. GlobalCitizen.org connects socially conscious citizens with information, organizations, events and campaigns all geared towards raising awareness and increasing action on issues that contribute to the poverty cycle. Global Citizen also engages its users through live entertainment events, notably the annual Global Citizen Festival in Central Park and its Global Citizen Nights series. Global Citizen users take action, earn points, and have the chance to win tickets to see incredible artists who are committed to eliminating poverty in this lifetime. For more information, visit GlobalCitizen.org and follow @GlblCtznTwitter, Facebook and Instagram using #GlobalCitizen.
Global Citizen has partnered with leading organizations for the 2015 Global Citizen Festival, including: action/2015, CARE, Concern Worldwide U.S., The Earth Institute, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, The Global Partnership for Education, Heifer International, The Hunger Project, Kiva, The ONE Campaign, Opportunity International, Oxfam, Pencils of Promise, RESULTS, Save the Children Action Network, The United Nations Foundation, UNICEF, USA for UNHCR, WaterAid, World Bank Group, World Vision and WSSCC.
ABOUT THE GLOBAL POVERTY PROJECT
The Global Poverty Project is a registered 501(c)(3) international non-profit organization whose mission is to end extreme poverty by 2030. The advocacy organization works in partnership with other NGOs, business leaders, world leaders and global citizens in its efforts to build the largest movement of people taking actions and calling on governments to support policies that would significantly impact the world’s poor. The Global Poverty Project organizes massive global campaigns including Live Below the Line and the annual Global Citizen Festival as catalysts in this movement. Over the last four years, global citizens have taken 2.3 million actions in the fight against extreme poverty. These actions have resulted in 87 commitments and policy announcements, including cash commitments valued at US $18.3 billion. The Global Poverty Project has offices in New York, Canada, UK and Australia. For more information, visitglobalpovertyproject.org.
ABOUT CHIME FOR CHANGE
CHIME FOR CHANGE, founded by Gucci in 2013, is a global campaign to convene, unite and strengthen the voices speaking out for girls and women around the world, with a focus on using innovative approaches to raise funds and awareness for Education, Health and Justice projects. Through the power of crowdfunding, CHIME FOR CHANGE has funded more than 400 projects in 86 countries through 144 non-profit partners reaching hundreds of thousands of girls and women. CHIME FOR CHANGE co-Founders Salma Hayek Pinault and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter continue to lead the coalition of partners who support the campaign. Founding Partners include the Kering Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Facebook, Hearst Magazines and Catapult. Strategic Partners include P&G Prestige, Twitter and Kellogg’s Special K. The CHIME FOR CHANGE Advisory Board includes Hafsat Abiola, Muna AbuSulayman, Valerie Amos, Humaira Bachal, Jimmie Briggs, Gordon and Sarah Brown, Lydia Cacho, David Carey, Minh Dang, Juliet de Baubigny, Waris Dirie, Carolyn Everson, Helene Gayle, Leymah Gbowee, Yasmeen Hassan, Hung Huang, Arianna Huffington, Musimbi Kanyoro, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Lee Young-Ae, Madonna, Pat Mitchell, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Alyse Nelson, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, Francois-Henri Pinault, Julia Roberts, Jill Sheffield, Alison Smale, Jada Pinkett Smith, Peter Soer, Caryl Stern, Meryl Streep, the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mpho Tutu, Monique Villa and Yang Lan.
ABOUT THE GLOBAL GOALS CAMPAIGN AND RADIO EVERYONE
In September 2015, at the United Nations, New York, 193 world leaders will adopt a series of ambitious targets to end extreme poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change for everyone by 2030. The Global
Goals campaign is a global collaborative effort to ensure that these Goals are world famous and that they are successfully acted upon. In order to make the Goals famous Project Everyone, the brainchild of Richard
Curtis is on a mission to get the Goals to 7 billion people in the 7days after they are adopted. Radio Everyone forms one part of that ambition, alongside the World’s Largest Lesson and the World’s First Global Cinema
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